Arab women slam Israeli force against Palestinians

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- A summit of leading Arab women on Saturday denounced Israeli violence against Palestinian women and children.

"This conference...is our voice, which we raise in protest against the terrible injustice that falls over the struggling Palestinian people," Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, told the opening session of a gathering called the Arab Woman Summit.

"This voice is a strong one, expressing the anger of half the Arab World population -- women -- at violations committed against Palestinian women and children," Mubarak said.

At least 238 people, most of them Arabs and many of them children, have been killed in more than seven weeks of violence between Palestinian stone-throwers and the Israeli army.

The summit includes eight wives of Arab presidents or heads of state including Queen Rania of Jordan and Suha Arafat, wife of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Other prominent Arab women participants include academics, heads of women's federations and one government minister.

"The situation we're presently living in dictates that the biggest problem facing Arab countries is the Palestinian problem," Fawzya Leely, professor of mass communication at the United Arab Emirates University, told Reuters.

"We must support our Palestinian sisters and brothers and help them to the utmost extent until they achieve their rights."

The summit is aimed primarily at debating Arab women's issues. The speakers called for removal of societal restrictions placed on Arab women.

"...Our duty at this summit is to adopt women's needs in all Arab countries and to support their rights to justice and equlity in all fields," Mubarak said.

The three-day conference is jointly organized by the Cairo-based Arab League, the Lebanese al-Hariri Institution and Egypt's National Women Council.

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